1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to short circuit protection for DC powered loads, and more particularly to a fast-responding short circuit protection system that resets itself once the short circuit has been removed.
2. Description of Related Art
Short circuit protection in electrical circuits is generally provided by the combination of a fuse, a diode, and a resistor, in series between a DC power source (e.g., a battery) and an electrical load. One problem with this design is that the resistor wastes power as it must be sized to limit current. Another problem is the reaction time of a fuse where a fast-response, commercially-available fuse still requires approximately 1100 micro-seconds to open or blow upon the sensing of a short circuit. Unfortunately, this may not be fast enough for some applications. Still another problem with the conventional short circuit protection design is that once the fuse is blown, the circuit is permanently disabled.